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Accentuate the positive: the Curate of Ars
Enter any French Catholic church and you will probably find two statues beyond those of Mary, Joseph and of course Jesus: Joan of Arc and the Curé d’Ars. You can see a typical example above: black cassock, surplice, stole in the style of the era, and a rather unflattering rendition of the saint.
In a way, the peasant girl from Domrémy and the ignoramus from Dardilly have some commonalities besides devout admirers erecting statues. Neither was educated but had a strong faith, both came from small rural villages, and both met great skepticism from the Church. In Vianney’s case, he began some schooling only at age 17. He was born in 1784 and the French revolution, in particular the changes in the Church, made it impossible for Jean-Marie to have any education before then. He had a fervent faith from his earliest years, and his childhood must have been marked by the conflict between his parish priest who had signed the Civil constitution of the clergy — soon condemned by the pope — and the clandestine clergy hunted by the revolutionaries.
At age 19 Jean-Marie made the acquaintance of a priest in a neighboring village, Écully, also next to Lyon, an Augustinian named Charles Balley. He took the young man under his wing, recognizing the ardor of his faith, but in the little school he had founded his protégé floundered. Learning Latin was especially…
